Food Experiments

Monday I helped Loyal bottle the last of the maple syrup and the birch syrup. The maple was the settling of each batch. If one lets it settle and pour off the top, clear syrup then filtering and bottling goes quickly and smoothly as pictured in the last batches bottled a while back. Tuesday morning I bottled the small amount of maple syrup that had not gone through the filter. I can use this”sludge” for …

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Soup

I love soup.  Since Ken’s death I like making batches of soup.  I can heat up a bowl and return quickly to the task at hand.  Last Tuesday I made three batches: squash from a bland squash, cream of broccoli from some broccoli on the edge of freezer burn, and some chicken wild rice. Today it was lentil with onion, tomato, bell and hot pepper, carrots, and soup stock

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week’s CSA box has cabbage, onions, garlic, the last of the pumpkins, kohlrabi, rutabaga, carrots, beets, black radishes, and the last of the winter tomatoes. Field Notes.  As many of you already know my husband, Ken died on December 19, 2017.  Prior blog entries describe his illness and death and the obituary is posted as well.  This was a difficult harvest from the root cellar for me as I thought …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This CSA box has lettuce, mixed mustard, salad turnips, carrots, winter squash, onions or leeks, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs       Field Notes.  The big dig has begun!  Each year we await a light frost and then Ken gets digging and harvesting.  Carrots and winter squash taste sweeter if they have been in the field for colder weather. While Ken is harvesting from the garden, I am cutting tops …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, potatoes, salad turnips, red radishes, beet thins, carrots, cucumbers and/or zucchini and herbs Field Notes.  No frost yet!  Usually by this time we have had at least a nip of frost.  Soon we will start the “big dig” and getting roots in the root cellar for the winter.  Ken is still picking all those summer crops and clearing space.  Once we have …

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And from the freezer – Asparagus for Cream of Asparagus Soup

Each year I freeze some vegetables.  In winter it is nice to have a taste of summer in the form of frozen berries or sweet corn or bell peppers, etc.  I freeze a couple quart bags of blanched, chopped asparagus.  Why?  It makes GREAT cream of asparagus soup in February.  Asparagus is considered a tonic for kidneys. Saute onion, add soup stock, herbs like thyme and tarragon and thawed asparagus. Run through blender, processor or …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  this week’s CSA box has freshly dug potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, leeks or red onions, garlic, salad and braising greens, winter tomatoes, and herbs.     Field Notes.  The field is, unfortunately, too wet for Ken to use the tractor to dig the potatoes.  So, he is digging some every day by hand.  Today you get some freshly dug potatoes – when they taste best.  And let us know what you …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week’s CSA box has the last of the summer tomatoes, peppers, onions or leeks, garlic, sweet potatoes, winter squash, potatoes, salad and braising greens, radishes, and parsley. Field Notes.  Monday morning Ken made a wooden box trap for voles.  Voles can move into a green house and wipe out an entire crop.  Think of it – a warm place to live and a salad bar to boot!    A well …

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